Russia

March 15, 2009

Will Stewart of The Daily Mail has a juicy story from Moscow
about a 24-year-old stunner called Maria Sergeyeva, described as “Putin’s
pin-up.” Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is said to use her obvious good looks
and passionate anti-West oratory to draw younger Russians to his party United Russia. While you can read the full story here, I could not escape the
impression that Maria’s view of Putin as Russia’s “Iron Man” has a touch of the
erotic. Beauty and power are so inextricably linked that if you have one, you
usually end up having the other.

Maria has emerged as the face of Russian nationalism and has
the ambitions of one day ruling Russia. In keeping with anyone who embodies
nationalism in any country, Maria’s views are unvarnished to say the least.
Stewart writes, “Her nationalist rhetoric is blunt, if not outright incendiary.
At a time when racist attacks in her country are at unprecedented levels, she
recently told immigrants to leave.

'They grab our work,' she said. 'Immigrants should work in
places where Russians don't want to, or they should go back home.'”

It is remarkable how these views could be attributed to any
xenophobic group anywhere in the world.